The conventional way to achieve pivotability in a connection between two machine parts is to use a hinge journalled in bearings, comprising one or more bearings arranged inside one machine member and a cylindrical pin hinging through the bushing and a pair of mounting lugs without mounting hole locking capabilities, attached by various methods to the outside of one mounting lug, to prevent the pin from falling out when linkage wear appears. The surface between the cylindrical part of the pin and the inner diameter of the bushing is greased through a grease channel, either through the pin or through the connecting machine member and the bushing.
A design for pivot solution exists, but with severe failure rate. The system creates an oil chamber by introducing o-rings between a number of bushings with the intention of axially sealing for oil leakage.
The system fails prematurely due to several different circumstances. Seals fail and the impact of extreme environment such as heat, cold, dust etc. Once one of the several seals break, the oil, due to its viscosity drains in a matter of minutes. Since the failure is unlikely to be noticed in this short period of time, the whole pivot start getting hot due to friction and a quick process is initiated where the temperature raises quickly until the materials in the pivot assembly seizes and is extremely difficult to take apart, since the different parts act as if they have been welded together. Another contributing factor is the inevitable and common problem of wear between the mounting lug hole and the mounting lug bushing as well as between the mounting lug bushing and the pivot pin. There are also the inevitable and common wear problem between the pivot pin and the inner circumference of the lubed center bushing as well as between the outer circumference of the center and the machine element which is the bushing housing. Due to the wear problem when two cylindrical machine elements move around an axis, the system has no locking mechanism and is solely depending on a tight tolerance between the parts. It has been proven over time that depending on tight tolerances to keep the system together is simply not dependable and is unacceptable.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above.